Pleasures of the Night by Heather Boyd
Chapter 8
Teddy strode into the sitting room on Duke Street and bowed to Mrs. Sophie Darling, a widow whose recovery and future concerned him greatly. “How are you feeling today, my dear?”
“Improving every day, Mr. Berringer.” Sophie Darling remained reclined on a chaise lounge across from where he stood, but not out of any attempt to appear seductive. She was unwell and had been that way since the first day he’d met her. She clutched a handkerchief across her mouth as she coughed and then forced a smile for him. “Please, won’t you sit down?”
Teddy perched on the edge of a nearby wooden chair, placed the parcel he’d carried in on his knee, and smiled despite her unenthusiastic welcome. “Your color is a great deal better than the last time I saw you,” he noted.
“Is it?” She put her hands to her cheeks, and her lips trembled. “Must be due to the excitement of seeing you again. I expected you last week.”
“I was away on the duke’s business still, I’m afraid. I have journeyed to the coast and back since I saw you last.”
“What an exciting life you lead, sir.”
“Yes, I suppose it must seem that way.” Sophie hadn’t gone much of anywhere since he’d know her. She’d been too ill, too frail to do more. He was glad to see she was improving now, though, and he didn’t feel he needed to visit her every week. Earlier in their acquaintance, he’d called every day. But she had a full house of staff now to watch over her and help her care for her children. An apothecary called twice a week with powders for her aching head and syrup for her throat grown raw from coughing.
Teddy had actually met her children first, begging on Bond Street. His heart had been touched by their sad faces and the hard times that had fallen upon them. He’d taken it upon himself to see to their welfare ever since.
“I hope the children have been behaving and are attending their lessons.”
“They have, sir. Master Allan still cannot stop telling his younger brother about your generosity in conveying him to see those tall ships in the navy docks.”
“It was my pleasure. I was going there on the duke’s business and remembered he had an interest in the service. Thank you for allowing me the privilege of taking him away from you for the day.”
He listened carefully now. The children were never usually this quiet when he arrived. The house he leased for Mrs. Darling and her brood was usually full of life and noise. However, today Teddy hadn’t heard a peep from anyone besides the butler and softly spoke Sophie since he’d knocked at the front door. “Are the children about? I have a gift for them from my travels.”
“I’m afraid not. A good friend has taken them out for the exercise.”
“Oh, I am sorry to hear that but glad to know you’ve finally met one of your neighbors.”
“Yes,” she said, smiling. “But they will be thrilled to know you remembered them,” she hastened to say, stretching out her arms for the parcel on his knee.
Although he’d prefer to have passed it over to the children himself, he gave it up to her. She admired the brown paper, then set it aside. “I will not ask what it is so I can be surprised when they open it. You are so good to them.”
Teddy liked the children. He wanted them to know he would always be around. “It’s good to be able to help where I can.”
“They are growing so fast, I can barely keep up with them,” she said with a soft laugh.
“That is what the nursemaids I hired are for,” he reminded her. “Rely upon them and safeguard your health, my dear.”
Sophie smiled shyly at him. “You always say that. You take such good care of me, too. Would you care for tea? I think I heard Cook was to bake plum tarts today. I recall you enjoy them.”
He sighed heavily. He should not stay too long because she tired too easily. “Not today. I have a great many other errands to run for his grace.”
That wasn’t strictly true, since the duke was away from London, but it was an excuse he could use that she would easily accept. He’d used it honestly so often before that now she never bothered to ask for specifics.
“Oh, must you leave so soon?”
“I sincerely apologize that I must.” He smiled quickly. “But I will return next week, at my usual time, of course.”
“I’ll count the days until we meet again then, sir.”
“Perhaps the children will be here next time, and they can tell me what they thought of my gift today.”
She made to rise, but he urged her not to with an outstretched hand. She caught it, though, and squeezed his fingers with her cold ones. “What would have become of us without your kindness to my children?”
“Let us not consider that,” he warned. “Good day, madam.”
“Sir.” She smiled prettily. “I look forward to seeing you again soon.”
“As do I.” He bowed and walked toward the front door where the butler was waiting. He asked the man to report any change in her health, as he usually did, and headed out to the street, where he found the weather had taken a turn for the worse.
A chill wind blew rain steadily across Duke Street, and he shivered as droplets landed on the back of his neck. He turned up his collar and quickly called up his carriage.
It arrived smartly beside the house, but his men, now wearing waterproof cloaks, looked none too happy about the conditions. “Back to Mayfair,” he called.
“Very good, sir,” his coachman replied before Teddy jumped inside where it was warm and dry.
Once inside, though, he pondered the future of the widow he supported again. He had not thought her illness so grave that she would linger for so very many months upon her bed or fainting couch. She often looked pale, except for today. His arrival had perchance caught her unprepared, which of course, it should not have. Whatever the reason behind her improved color, what he’d seen today pleased him enormously. He hoped this meant she was on the mend at last.
Teddy drummed his fingers on his knee, at a loss now for what to do with the afternoon. He had intended to spend an hour or more with the children, watching them play with the collection of seashells he’d found on his holiday by the sea.
He didn’t want to return to Grafton House, where he’d only have his own company still. Instead, he instructed his coachman to deliver him to his friend’s, Lord Hurlston’s, townhouse, hoping he’d be home and available to callers.
He was lucky to catch him just as he was leaving and was invited to go along. Teddy quickly sent his own carriage and men home without him and climbed into Hurlston’s larger conveyance. “Where are you bound today?”
“I go in search of amusement, just like you. If all else fails, I hear Lord Sullivan procured a case of very rare French brandy.”
“I’d be happy to help him drink it.”
“So would everyone, I’m sure,” Hurlston claimed. “It’s just what the doctor ordered for a depressing rainy afternoon.”
“Is everything all right?”
“Of course.” Hurlston shrugged. “Just lonely, I suppose.”
Teddy pursed his lips, debating the wisdom of asking a question that he wasn’t sure he should ask. In the end, he decided to do so anyway. “Can I ask why you’re not married yet?”
Hurlston shrugged again. “The time is not right.”
“You’ve been betrothed ten years.”
“Five of those before I reached my majority, and for Elizabeth, seven of those where she was a minor.”
“So, three years engaged when you were old enough to marry?” He shook his head. “With all the time you’ve had to know each other before now, surely the time has passed to tie the knot.”
“You sound just like my mama,” Hurlston complained.
“That’s tragic. But I was only curious, not criticizing your decisions.” He shrugged. “The duke keeps introducing me to women in want of a husband. I’m growing tired of it.”
“Don’t think just because I am betrothed that matchmaking ever stops,” Hurlston warned. “Believe me, there have been temptations aplenty.”
“Have you ever considered breaking the engagement?” He said it quietly, carefully. “I know breaking an engagement is a scandalous thing for a man to do and not without consequences for the lady set aside. But if you are not going to marry Elizabeth soon, might it be better for you to be an actual bachelor?”
“Why on earth would I want to break the engagement?”
“Well, it just seems…” He trailed off, uncertain whether Hurlston’s life was any of his business.
“Spit it out, man.”
“It seems to me that you don’t like her very much.” He considered what bothered him most. “When you speak of her, you could be speaking of anyone you might have passed on the street.”
Hurlston frowned down at his hands. “I don’t dislike Elizabeth.”
“You don’t love her.”
“No. Of course not.”
“Why of course not?”
Hurlston drew in a deep breath and looked out the window to where the rain was falling even harder now. “I admire the hell out of you, Berringer, but you see the world, our society, in a completely different fashion than I do. You seem to assume everyone has a choice in when and who they marry, but to me, I see us having no choice at all. You’ll eventually marry a woman from a good family, someone the duke approves, and someone capable of running your country estate in your absence—when you have one, that is. You’ll do your duty to the family, just like we all must. Sire an heir and a spare, and if love is possible, you’ll likely find it outside of marriage.”
“That is one way a gentleman might live out his days, I suppose,” he admitted.
“It is the truth.” Hurlston shrugged. “Elizabeth is a fine woman, from a good family, and is accomplished in all I need her for. I do not need to love her to be a good husband to her. I respect her and look forward to a long and respectful marriage.”
Teddy sat back, studying his friend as if he were a stranger. The loveless union Hurlston had just described was something he intended to avoid if he could. He’d not met anyone he’d want to spend all the days of his life with and not even love them. “If all is a duty, then why do you seem sad? What interests do you have in common that made Elizabeth the right choice?”
“Please remember I was young at the time my father arranged the betrothal,” Hurlston hastened to explain. “She was our neighbor. We were friends of a sort, I suppose. Elizabeth enjoys all the usual country pursuits. She rides well, shoots straight, my dogs like her, and she is fond of dancing. “
“But not with you,” Teddy observed. “If she’s keen to become your countess, why isn’t she here to dance with you this season?”
Hurlston grimaced. “And marry me. I had hoped to tie the knot at the end of the month, but that seems unlikely now.”
Teddy’s eyes widened. “You hadn’t told me that, or anyone else for that matter.”
Hurlston crossed his arms over his chest. “Hardly worth mentioning when she hasn’t arrived to set the date.”
“What is keeping her away? You’re not horrible.”
Hurlston glanced out the window. “Oh, thank you so much. I haven’t the slightest idea about her delays,” he said, his jaw clenching. “She should want to have our wedding over and done with just like I do. My grandfather could die any day. I will require a wife before then to make the transition as seamless as possible,” he announced with a trace of impatience.
However, Hurlston was never one to remain ruffled for long. He relaxed and winced. “I apologize for my grumblings. Elizabeth’s excuses vex me.”
“Well, honestly, you can be as mad as you like to me. It is a relief to finally hear you speak honestly about the woman you’re going to marry. I was starting to think you were happy with the delay.”
“Well, it’s not all bad. I may still join the bachelors and not have the scolds of a wife to listen to when drunk.”
“It would be very dull to be in London and not have you free to join us,” Teddy promised. “Very, very dull indeed.”
Hurlston turned from the window and met his gaze. “Promise me you will say nothing to anyone about the matter of my betrothal. Particularly my mother or brother. Both are cross enough about the delay as it is. They think I am to blame.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” He peered at his friend. “But why do they think it is you holding up the wedding?”
“Because I said it was my doing so they were not cross with Elizabeth. My mother and brother have been cross with me for years, that is expected, but I will not have my future wife finding an excuse to cry off because of their hostility. She has to marry me. She promised.”
They had arrived by that time at Lord Sullivan’s home, who seemed happy to see them. The brandy, though, was gone. Given as a gift to an uncle for his cellar. Although disappointed to hear the news, Hurlston invited Sullivan to join them in the carriage.
“Where are we bound?”
“To a place where there’s always good brandy,” Hurlston explained and then said no more.
Teddy and Sullivan exchanged a long glance and then grinned. “Madam Bradshaw’s House of Pleasure,” they said together.
Hurlston laughed. “We can drink, and if it suits you bachelors, you may leave me to the brandy for the other pleasures to be found there.”
Teddy shook his head, and Sullivan did too. “We’ll drink with you,” Sullivan announced. “And let’s try not to sing this time.”
Teddy grinned. “Agreed.”
“Berringer can’t hold a tune anyway,” Hurlston teased.
“Neither can you,” Sullivan noted.
“Sad but true,” Hurlston said with a regretful sigh. “But we excel in everything else, so that’s all right.”
Teddy laughed and wisely did not raise the topic of Elizabeth again. He made small talk with Sullivan, who boasted he’d won a fortune in cards the prior night. After deciding to fetch Scarsdale and Pinner, too, Hurlston mused one of them needed to buy a larger conveyance before they made any new friends.
From there, they set out for Madam Bradshaw’s to drink and not sing.
“It is a shame Wharton introduced us to this place and now rarely can join us anymore,” Hurlston whispered to Teddy when they alighted outside Bradshaw’s. “Can he really be as happy to marry as he seems? He hardly looks at another woman now.”
“I believe so,” Teddy said and then shut up because the proprietress was approaching, and she had sharp ears. Wharton had found his perfect match in Sylvia. Hopefully, Teddy would find his own one day.
Madam Bradshaw greeted them warmly, inquired after their health and needs for the night.
“Purely to stand in the grand surroundings of your establishment and hospitality is all we require,” Hurlston promised. “And brandies for all.”
Madam Bradshaw clicked her fingers. Immediately, they were each surrounded by a pair of ladies of the night. A blonde and a brunette fussed over Teddy. He allowed the brunette to take his hat and gloves as his friends were treated to the same care.
“I’m so pleased to see you returned, Mr. Berringer,” his blonde whispered. “It’s been ever so dull tonight.”
“Is that so?”
She toyed with a fallen lock of her hair, watching him from beneath lowered lashes while she did. She suddenly linked her arm with his. “Let’s find a nice quiet corner. Just the two of us.”
Teddy noticed the brunette had found herself another gentleman to fuss over already. He did not mind she was gone. But the blonde could have gone with her. “We’re here for the bandy.”
Hurlston strode ahead, his two ladies hanging from his arm and laughing. Two footmen followed him, one carrying a decanter of brandy, the other a tray of glasses.
Teddy followed, leaving the blonde behind.
Hurlston turned into the dining room first, though, where there was always an array of tempting dishes waiting for hungry patrons.
“Are you hungry?” Hurlston asked as he picked up a plate.
“Yes, I suppose I might as well.”
“Never drink on an empty stomach,” Hurlston warned. “That way leads to the singing of songs we’re going to murder.”
Teddy picked up a plate and piled it high. “Definitely no singing tonight.”
Hurlston chose to sit at the end of the table, and everyone gathered around. He picked up a cutlet and held it up for inspection. “I cannot account for Wharton giving up the place. The food has always been excellent,” he said before digging in as if he were starving.
“Perhaps he wouldn’t want anyone to think he was patronizing the women here, too,” Teddy said, eating at a slower pace. “I cannot imagine Miss Hillcrest would enjoy the spiteful gossip about the possibility.”
“Hmm, yes. I suppose that would be hurtful for her.”
“Indeed. No one wants to be humiliated by a lover, real or imagined.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Hurlston brush aside another would-be-companion. Not for the first time, either. Hurlston was particular. In fact, Teddy had never known him to have a lover here at Bradshaw’s or anywhere. He’d once thought it was because of his betrothal to Elizabeth and being in love with her. Clearly, that was not the case and might never be true.
In every other respect but attention to the ladies, Hurlston was a carefree bachelor with time on his hands like Teddy. Neither of them were happy with their lives. As Hurlston had said, he was lonely, and Teddy thought he might be sometimes, too.
Teddy shrugged. At least he’d found a woman who was interested in dancing with him—and kissing him. He looked forward to his next encounter with Eugenia very much.